The news from South Africa points to another determined effort
on the part of De Wet to break south into Cape Colony, General Charles Knox reporting what seems to be a rear- guard engagement south of Welcome on the 29( h, and Lord Kitchener adding that on the 30th De Wet's force had evaded General Bruce Hamilton's men and crossed the Bloemfontein - Ladybrand line near Israel's Poort.—De Wet's force, it may be added, according to the evidence of a recently released British prisoner, is made up of the most irreconcilable of the Boers and the most ill- conditioned of the foreign adventurers,—For the rest, the news of the week includes a good dad of circumstantial but conflicting evidence concerning the shooting of one of the peace envoys by De Wet, and reports of a number of small engage- ments in which the balance of success is pretty equally divided, though the Boers have captured small outposts of Dublin Fusiliers at Slipklip and of ()ape Police at Devondale, near Vry burg. They also captured a goods train at Slipklip, and would have captured a second but for the promptitude and courage of the fireman of the first train, who rolled off the engine when the first shots were fired, made a detour of several miles, and reached the line again nearer Kimberley in time to atop the second train. It is to be hoped that the splendid services of the railway employes throughout the war will be fittingly recognised when occasion serves. The situation in Cape Colony has not substantially changed since our last issue, the Boers having occupied Brandvlei and established their base at Calvinia, but good results are expected from the concentration of British troops under Colonel Bethune at Clanwilliam.
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